August 23 coronavirus news

The US Food and Drug Administration on Sunday issued an emergency use authorization for convalescent plasma for the treatment of Covid-19 in hospitalized patients.

The agency said it concluded that the product may be effective in treating Covid-19 and that "the known and potential benefits of the product outweigh the known and potential risks of the product."

President Donald Trump is expected to discuss the announcement during a Sunday media briefing.

Convalescent plasma is created from the blood of people who have recovered from Covid-19, and it has shown some success in two other deadly coronaviruses: MERS and SARS. It has also been used to treat flu and Ebola.

Emergency use authorization from the FDA does not require the same level of evidence as full FDA approval. At the end of March, the FDA created a pathway for scientists to try convalescent plasma with patients and study its impact. 

Physicians have been using the treatment since. So far, more than 60,000 people in the United States have been treated with convalescent plasma.

One of President Donald Trump’s nightly appearances at the Republican National Convention will be with a group of doctors, nurses and EMTs who helped respond to the coronavirus crisis, according to a person familiar with the planning.

Trump will honor their heroism and highlight other frontline workers who are responding to the pandemic. 

CNN reported earlier Sunday Trump is expected to make some type of appearance during each night of this week’s Republican Convention.

The RNC is expected to focus heavily on Trump's accomplishments in his current term and lay out a second-term vision for the administration. The convention will present "a complete change in the perception that I believe the media tries to tell of what a Trump supporter looks like, or who a Trump supporter is," Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller said.

California reported 146 new Covid-19-related fatalities Sunday, bringing the state's total number of coronavirus-related deaths to 12,134. 

The state reported 6,777 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the state's total number of cases to 663,669. 

The California Department of Public Health noted that the numbers may not represent true day-over-day change as reporting of test results can be delayed.

California's Covid-19 seven-day positivity rate is 5.7%, and the 14-day positivity rate is 6.4%.

Note: These numbers were released by the California Department of Public Health and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

The Hattiesburg Police Department in Mississippi has sandbags and face masks available for people head of Hurricane Marco and Tropical Storm Laura, according to a Facebook post from the department.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a news conference Sunday that officials are staging  helicopters, C-130 transport aircraft, high-profile vehicles, sheltering teams, disinfecting teams and mobile testing squads to help mitigate the spread of Covid-19 during Hurricane Marco and Tropical Storm Laura.

Abbott said he has issued a state disaster declaration for 23 counties ahead of the storms, and is asking for an emergency declaration from President Trump and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Gulf Coast is forecast to be walloped by two hurricanes this week, bringing torrential rain, fierce winds and ferocious storm surges.

First up: Marco, which strengthened from a tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane Sunday. Marco is expected to make landfall on the Louisiana coast Monday.

Marco will be followed by Tropical Storm Laura, which is expected to strengthen to a hurricane before it makes landfall on the US mainland late Wednesday or early Thursday. Laura is forecast to make landfall on or near the Louisiana coast.

Georgia is reporting 1,739 new Covid-19 cases and 42 additional deaths on Sunday, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health.

The department's latest status report states that as of Sunday, there have been 253,949 total confirmed cases and 5,132 deaths in Georgia. At least 2,360 people are currently hospitalized with Covid-19 in the state.

NOTE: These numbers were released by Georgia’s public health agency, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

There are at least 5.6 million cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 176,583 people have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

As of 3 p.m. ET, Johns Hopkins has reported 19,193 new cases and 230 reported deaths. 

The total includes cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

France has reported 4,897 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, the highest daily increase post-lockdown, according to France’s national health agency (Santé Publique France). 

This brings the total Covid-19 case count in the country to 242,899 as of Sunday.  

There was also one coronavirus death reported, bringing the total death toll to 30,513, according to the national health agency.

Over the last 20 days, The University of Notre Dame has confirmed more than 400 coronavirus cases in its campus community.

There has been 408 confirmed cases since Aug. 3, the school said on its online dashboard.